Transcript Japanese Internment Notes

Japanese Internment
1942-1945
Standard 11.7

Students analyze America’s
participation in World War II.
Introduction to the Japanese
Internment
Part I
Differences associated with the
Japanese
Issei - first generation
 Nisei - second generation
 Nikkei - people placed in the camps
 Kibei - people who go to Japan and
then return to U. S.

People Associated with the
Japanese Internment

Franklin Delano
Roosevelt - signed
the Executive Order
9066
 General John De
Witt handled the
internment of
Japanese
FDR
General De Witt
Reasons for disliking the Asians
in the 1800's

Racial hatred for the Asians who arrived to
work for the railroads and mining
companies
 Chinese worked for low wages & lived in
poor living conditions.
Reasons for disliking the Asians
in the 1800's
• They accepted horrible working
conditions in order to keep working
in the United States
 Union workers considered them
scabs because they replaced
American workers who refused to
cooperative with owners.
Racist laws against the Asians
Chinese could not testify in court
 people who were white could only
receive citizenship
 The Gentlemen's Agreementstopped Asian immigration into the
United States in the 1880’s.

Racist laws against the Asians

San Francisco's school board ordered that
all Asian children be allowed to attend
public schools, but could not associate
with other children.
 Japanese children could not retain their
dual citizenship. The parents had to make
a choice within 14 days of the child's birth.
Racist laws against the Asians

Nisei people tried to adapt into the
American culture, but were denied
employment and education.
Racist laws against the Asians

With the bombing of Pearl
Harbor on December 7,
1941, racist laws were
passed such as curfews
for anyone who looked
Asian.
Placement in Camps
Part II
Executive Order 9066
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
ordered all Japanese to be placed in
camps.
 U. S. feared that the Japanese would
threaten America's safety
 Japanese needed to register with
Wartime Civil Control Administration.

Executive Order 9066

Japanese could only
take what they could
carry & had one week to
dispose of their belongs
which were:




personal artifacts
Houses
Farms
factories
Japanese relocation camps

Relocation Authority was responsible for
building the 10 relocation camps. The
security was prison-like.
Japanese relocation camps

Famous camps
 Mayer, Arizona
 Santa Anita,
California
 Manzanar, California
 Potson, Washington
 Other camps were in
Arkansas, Wyoming,
and Utah
Life in the Camps
Part III
Life in the Camps

organized like army
barracks, however
five families had to
live in one barrack or
horse stable.
 communal bathrooms,
eating halls and no
privacy
Life in the Camps

men received 50
cents a day in food
rations
 women received 39
cents a day in food
rations
Life in the camps

camps were guarded 24
hours a day and people
needed permission to leave
their barracks
 after being in the camps,
Japanese began to
establish the following:
 schools
 religious centers
 political councils
Legal Issues
Part IV
Loyalty
questionnaires were used to prove
one's loyalty
 they had to prove that they would
defend the United States
 some people renounced their
Citizenship on protest of the horrible
treatment in the camps

Loyalty

in 1959, the courts gave
the Japanese their
citizenship back
 the 442nd battalion,
which was made up of
Japanese-Americans,
was highly decorated for
their bravery during
World War II.
Supreme Court Cases

Korematsu v. United States ruled that
the camps were military necessities.

Takao v. United States ruled that
Asians could not be citizens because
they were not protected under the
law; it only applied to whites and
Blacks.
Supreme Court Cases

Hirabayashi v. United States ruled that it
was legal to have curfew for the Japanese
because of public safety. The Japanese
were potentially dangerous.

Endo v. United States ruled that civilians
should not be placed in camps. Within a
couple months, the Japanese were
released.
Life after the internment
Part V
Returning home from the
camps

possessions were stolen
 businesses were sold without permission
 friends refused to return possessions
 Japanese American Evacuation Claims
Act
 handled claims inefficiently
 needed proper documentation to file claims
but had difficulty in obtaining them
 very little money was given back
Returning home from the
camps
poor blacks took over homes and
jobs from the Japanese
 there were very few job openings or
business opportunities
 Japanese were victims of physical
abuse

Attempts to return to normalcy
difficulty in seeking work
 most jobs for the Japanese were
gardening and domestic work
 war veterans sought recognition that
they deserved

Attempts to return to normalcy

many moved to suburbs and into the
middle class neighborhoods
 Asian teachers were hired in the LA
school system (shut out before the war)
 considered "model minorities" because
they did not participate in the civil rights
movement or the Vietnam protests (they
did not want to cause problems)
Seeking redress for being in
the camps
President Ford revoked Executive
Order 9066 and said it was wrong &
demanded compensation and an
apology
 Civil Liberties Act (1988) was signed
by President Reagan. It ordered
money compensation for the
Japanese.

Seeking redress for being in
the camps
courts overturned previous 1940's
cases
 Japanese received $20,000 in
compensation
